The World In The Aftermath (Formerly A World Less Magical)

[Davies]

Why, yes.

[Davies]

Maureen Summerisle


When she was four years old, Gwenno Summerisle was sent with her mother away from the Hebridean island which her ancestors had ruled since time immemorial (that being defined as the late 18th century) ostensibly because her father planned to divorce her mother and marry someone to give him a son, but actually because he had well-founded concerns for his family's safety, to say nothing of his own. As it happened, he was right to worry, as he was murdered the next year when the harvest failed that year, just as it had the previous year, despite all the desperate measures that had been taken. Summerisle's culture rather devolved after that, but it seems to have made a comeback, recently, under the guidance of a distant cousin of Maureen's grandfather. It would probably not be a good idea for her or any other claimant to the title to go back, though.

Regardless, Gwenno grew up in Nevada and had almost completely forgotten about her origins by the time that she turned eighteen and started trying out to be a showgirl. She managed to get hired by one of the smaller casinos, and then a somewhat larger one, and was actually making a fairly good life for herself when a chance encounter with someone she's never talked about ended that life forever, since pregnant women are not generally considered to be showgirl material. Unwilling to take the simple solution to this problem, she gave birth to her daughter, Maureen, in 1992, spent a year recovering and then went back to work as a dance school instructor. Maureen's father was not in the picture, but Gwenno married a poor but dishonest LVPD officer and established a relatively happy family life all the same.

When Maureen was eight, her younger brother went missing and has never been seen alive since. When she was twelve, her stepfather was killed in a shootout with some drug dealers. When she was fourteen, her mother was murdered by a serial killer. People she got close to while in foster care tended to meet unpleasant ends. She developed the belief that death was stalking her, showing her what he could and would eventually do to her. She decided not to go to that meeting quietly, and took up martial arts, at which she showed a surprising amount of talent. Sometimes, she felt herself shifting, becoming stronger, faster, harder.

At eighteen, she was finally had her long-expected meeting. Death, as it turned out, was actually a man -- a crazy man who claimed to have magical powers which he'd employed to bend the fates of those around Maureen so that they'd meet unpleasant ends. Apparently, the psychopath was acquainted with her biological father, and took a sick interest in the notion of claiming Mephistopheles' daughter as a bride. All that she had to do to make it stop would be to marry him, and then --

Actually, she didn't bother listening to the rest. She proceeded to beat her tormentor half-way to death, at which point he gurgled out a threat that if he died the curse would never end, and that no one she loved would ever be safe. "Okay," she said, and then beat him the other half-way.

Ever since then, Maureen has ambled around North America in a series of cars that she obtains through fair means or foul, looking for people who have problems with what she considers to be monsters, and helping them out -- for a fee that she sets based upon a completely arbitrary assessment of her 'clients'. She is definitely not a superhero, and regards the capes-and-tights crowd with disinterested contempt. By and large, she preys upon low-powered supers who've completely lost their minds following their mutation, but she has also encountered werewolves, vampires, witches, apparent ghosts and so-called fairies. Whatever the opponent, if someone is willing to pay her to take it on, she does so. If not, then not.

Maureen has never met her alleged father -- either of him -- and has been noted to stay out of San Francisco. She has crossed paths with Dame Beatrice Barrowman, and wants to kill her. One important factor of Maureen's attitude is that once she decides that someone is a monster deserving of death, they are on that list for life, and nothing -- not the most saintly behavior -- will get someone off of it. While she worked with Argus agents during Dracula's recent activities in New York, and didn't attack Dame Beatrice when there were all sorts of people around who would have tried to separate the two of them, she spent the entire episode glaring cold death in the old witch's direction, and getting the same cold glare from her bodyguard.

Sort of a shame. He's kinda cute. Oh well.

Maureen Summerisle -- PL 9

Abilities:
STR 2/0 | STA 4/0 | AGL 5/1 | DEX 3/1 | FGT 7/3 | INT 1 | AWE 3 | PRE 2

Powers:
"Become Who You Were Born to Be": Enhanced Characteristics 16 (Agility 4, Dexterity 2, Fighting 4, Stamina 4, Strength 2), Subtle, Activation (Move Action) - 32 points
Find Weakness: Strength-based Damage 4; Enhanced Advantage 4 (Close Attack 4) - 8 points
Monster-Killing Dance: Enhanced Advantage 3 (Evasion 2, Move-by Action); Enhanced Defenses 4 (Dodge 2, Parry 2) - 7 points
Resistance: Immunity 1 (vampiric blood drain); Immunity 20 (mental effects), Limited to Half Effect - 11 points

Advantages:
Attractive, Close Attack 4, Defensive Roll 2, Equipment 2, Evasion 2, Extraordinary Effort, Improved Initiative, Improvised Weapon 2, Languages 2, Move-by Attack, Power Attack, Redirect, Takedown 2, Taunt, Uncanny Dodge

Equipment:
Frequently-Replaced Car: Size Large; Strength 5; Speed 5 (ground); Defense 8; Toughness 8 - 10 points

Skills:
Acrobatics 6 (+11/+7), Athletics 6 (+8/+6), Deception 8 (+10), Expertise: Magic 5 (+7), Expertise: Streetwise 5 (+6), Insight 6 (+9), Perception 4 (+7), Persuasion 8 (+10), Vehicles 6 (+9/+7).

Offense:
Initiative +9/+5
Unarmed +11/+7 (Close Damage 6/4)
Improvised Weapon +11/+7 (Close Damage 7/5)

Defense:
Dodge 9/7/3, Parry 9/7/3, Fortitude 6/2, Toughness 9/5/4/0, Will 9.

Totals:
Abilities 22 + Powers 58 + Advantages 15 + Skills 27 + Defenses 10 = 132 points

Complications:
Vengeance, Or Something Like That--Motivation. Cursed to Bring Doom to Those She Loves, and So Loves No One.* Power Loss (Monster-Killing Dance, if she's not committed to killing the target.) Reputation (heartless mercenary.) Vindictive.

* Just to be clear, it's not clear at all whether she's actually cursed in this manner. Frankly, voluntary emotionally detachment from everyone around her is probably a curse in and of itself.

[Voltron64]

Buffy as the daughter of Etrigan, neat.

[Davies]

Among other ancestors. She also owes a bit to Blade and the Supernatural boys.

[Voltron64]

Among other ancestors. She also owes a bit to Blade and the Supernatural boys.

Yeah, I caught the Wicker Man ref as well.

If Maureen ever shows up at her ancestral home, it's gonna turn into a charnel house.

She also really needs stop ignoring the elephant in the room that is facing her father. Lord knows how'd he react to all this...

[RainOnTheSun]

Japan is the Emperor's next anticipated conquest. Sure, he could arrange for their systems to shut down when the time comes, but it's so much more efficient if they don't have any protection at all. Switzerland considered buying one, but ultimately decided that it wasn't cost-effective.

Is the Emperor the only/main source for mutant nullifiers? That's a very useful bargaining chip to have. Are there nullifiers for any other power sources, too?

[Davies]

Japan is the Emperor's next anticipated conquest. Sure, he could arrange for their systems to shut down when the time comes, but it's so much more efficient if they don't have any protection at all. Switzerland considered buying one, but ultimately decided that it wasn't cost-effective.

Is the Emperor the only/main source for mutant nullifiers? That's a very useful bargaining chip to have.

He's probably not the only one by this point, but all those built or in construction were based on plans that he sold to their respective owners, and in the majority of cases built from parts that he also sold. And yes, it is.

Are there nullifiers for any other power sources, too?

Aside from your good old fashioned electro-magnetic pulse generator (Nullify Technological) -- developed in the mid-80s -- there is not; the Schemer has a notion for a theonite-powered Nullify Anacreonite/Dhakamite Powers device, but as all his simulations suggest the effect would only last about six seconds, he views it as a waste of time and resources. And also as cheating. Other mad scientists might have more narrowly focused Nullifier devices on the drawing board, but they probably wouldn't sell them for love nor money.

[Davies]

Helice


Compared to some superheroes, Tina Wilson has had a remarkably mundane life. Born in 1985, her telepathic powers began to emerge in her early adolescence, and were almost at their current level in 2003, when she was recruited by the Department of Defense to become the only female member of the United Supermen of America, tasked with keeping the group safe from psychic intrusion and subversion as well as acting as its lead investigator. As she'd already engaged in a certain amount of mystery-solving in her teens, none of this seemed all that difficult. Her biggest issue in this period was how uncomfortable she was with the constant public attention focused on her team.

When the group dissolved in 2007, it came as something of a relief. Unfortunately, that was followed up by the major headache of being hired by the Federal Bureau of Investigation to basically serve as a living lie detector. She wasn't allowed to probe anyone without their express permission -- not that she would have, regardless of rules -- just monitor people who were being interviewed to determine whether they were lying in response to specific questions. Tina found herself a bit horrified as she came to realize how many people who worked for the Bureau were such consummate liars as to be able to fool her telepathy.

After three years of this, she was more than ready for a change, and accepted Thomas Dore's invitation to come work with him again at Heroic Enterprises. She was back in the thick of the group's investigations again, and leading a much less sedate life, but it was enjoyable ... right up until it wasn't anymore. After three years of that, she decided that she'd had enough of this and handed in her resignation. Later, when she read about the business with the bridge, she briefly wondered if she could have prevented that if she'd stayed around, then reminded herself to only look forward, never back.

These days, Tina makes her home in Attica, Indiana, and acts as the semi-official superhero of the nearby city of LaFayette. She doesn't have to use much in the way of violence in the course of her job, while discreetly making sure that the local police force on which she relies for support is more honest and ethical than the national average. She also works to keep an eye on all the surrounding counties, paying considerable attention to anything that might be going on in haunted Delphi. So far, she hasn't found anything going on there, but she thinks it likely that just means that the Pythonian remnants are smart enough to avoid their former base. That's not a good thing, all around.

Helice has good relations with Darkwing, who contacts her for assistance when he requires a discreet telepath, which Basilea generally isn't. She wasn't particularly close to True Believer when they both worked at Heroic Enterprises, she felt a great deal of sympathy once the other left the company, and has spoken with her several times since then, offering support and consultation. She respects the work True is doing with the Minor League, knowing very well that this is not something she could ever do. She is just plain done with teams, though she has no objection to partnerships.

Helice's telepathic ethics allow her to read surface thoughts without any qualms -- it's not any different from being attentive towards people's facial expressions or body language. The same is true of using someone else's senses. She only permits herself to probe further if she encounters surface thoughts which indicate hostility towards another person who is actually present or if someone is contemplating a criminal act. Nothing of what she discovers through any of these methods is accepted as evidence in a trial, and so she must discover proof of intent or action if she wants to see criminal charges laid. Fortunately, she's kind of good at that.

Helice -- PL 11

Abilities:
STR 0 | STA 2 | AGL 3 | DEX 2 | FGT 5 | INT 3 | AWE 6 | PRE 5

Powers:
Shielded Mind: Impervious Will 10, Limited to mental effects - 5 points
Telepathic Communication: Selective Area Mental Communication 3; Comprehend Languages 3 (understands and 'speaks' all languages) - 27 points
Telepathic Defenses: Enhanced Advantages 10 (Defensive Roll 2, Evasion 2, Improved Defense, Improved Initiative 2, Seize Initiative); Enhanced Defenses 16 (Dodge 8, Parry 8); Senses 2 (acute psychic awareness) - 28 points
Telepathic Feats: Array (34 points)

• Mind Blast: Perception Range Damage 8, Resisted by Will, Subtle - 1 point
• Mind Probe: Cumulatative Mind Reading 11, Subtle - 34 points
• Paralysis: Perception Range Cumulative Affliction 8 (Resisted by Will; Dazed, Stunned, Paralyzed), Subtle - 1 point
• Phantasms: Illusion 8 (all senses), Feedback, Resisted by Will, Selective - 1 point
• Sensory Link: Remote Viewing 8 (all senses), Medium (living mind), Subtle - 1 point

Advantages:
Benefit 2 (well-off), Defensive Roll 2, Evasion 2, Fearless, Improved Defense, Improved Initiative 2, Seize Initiative, Trance, Ultimate Effort (Will checks).

Skills:
Deception 4 (+9), Expertise: Psychology 5 (+8), Insight 5 (+11), Investigation 4 (+7), Perception 5 (+11), Persuasion 5 (+10)

Offense:
Initiative +11/+3
Unarmed +5 (Close Damage 0)
Mind Blast -- (Perception Range Damage 8, Resisted by Will)
Paralysis -- (Perception Range Will 8)

Defense:
Dodge 15/7, Parry 13/5, Fortitude 5, Toughness 7/2, Will 13

Totals:
Abilities 52 + Powers 98 + Advantages 5 + Skills 14 + Defenses 14 = 183 points

Complications:
Responsibility--Motivation. Code of Honor (telepathic ethics.) Fame. Power Loss (Telepathic Defenses, against non-intelligent beings or those with Immunity to mental effects.)

[Voltron64]

She ever have any run-ins with Stephen Gregory during her time in the FBI?

[Davies]

She ever have any run-ins with Stephen Gregory during her time in the FBI?

Yes, he's one of the people who inspired her horror about the number of liars who could resist her powers, but she doesn't know just how bad he was and is.

[Davies]

The Reaper


Around the start of the Millar administration came the earliest reports of a lethal vigilante acting against mundane criminals in the New York metropolitan area, much as the notorious Hazard had operated against Pythonian-backed criminal operations thirty years before that. While many superheroes have considered taking action against this murderer, none have successfully tracked him down ... and some have gone missing while trying to do so. Basilea has argued that the Powerhouse should consider him a priority target at meetings, but the group has collectively concluded that they have higher priorities at the moment. This may be a terrible mistake.

Blake Rogers was born in 1966, a military brat whose father was serving in Vietnam and whose mother was a member of the Stardust Crusaders. This caused a certain amount of cognitive dissonance in the child when, at the age of five, his father was one of thousands of American servicemen killed during the Battle of Vietnam. His mother avoided jailtime for her association with the Crusaders, and started to devote her life to more conventional religion, but her son never forgave her for having worshipped what had killed his father.

Rogers enlisted in the marines right out of high school, and his performance at Camp Pendleton ensured that he was tapped for the Joint Special Operations Taskforce. He was glad to be given the chance to fight against the latest form of the evil that had claimed his father's life, which he defined as the worship of the super-powered. Given the number of super beings among the Pythonian Insurrection's hierarchy, and the fact that they had partially emerged from the Stardust Crusaders, there was a certain logic to this position. However, he was also noted for his expressed disgust and distrust of the handful of superhumans active among JSOTs allies. This kept him out of the Mars operation, for example, though all hands were employed in the attack on Delphi.

He returned to the Marine Corps after the Insurrection's end, and served a number of terms in Syria, noted for courage under fire. His career in the corps ended in 1999 under something of a cloud, after he exposed certain criminal acts committed by his superiors and was forced out. A later reinvestigation would suggest that he had actually worked to frame those superiors for acts he'd undertaken, but the truth remains somewhat nebulous after a number of classified files concerning his service record were destroyed during Billie Zane's coup.

After leaving the corps, Rogers found employment with Argus, but quickly grew disenchanted with the way that the organization existed in symbiosis with the superhuman plague rather than attempting to extirpate it. His attitude naturally resulted in him being drawn into Zane's conspiracy, and he rose within it. How he reconciled his hatred for superhumans with loyalty to an obvious Hyperbrain is known only to him, but it seems that he either sincerely believed Zane's claims to normalcy or regarded her as a lesser evil to be exterminated later. Regardless, he became an accomplished killer for her cause, and faked his own death as she had.

As he entered his fifties, Rogers began to feel his years and believed that he wasn't doing enough personally to bring about the end of the superhuman hegemony. Understanding this perspective, even though she didn't share it, Zane provided him with a chemical treatment she dubbed Revitalix, which restored him to the vigor he'd possessed in his thirties. (She neglected to mention that it was based on her studies of the work of Doctor Genome.) With restored youth came a more direct attitude, and so he created the identity of the Reaper, hunting down criminals whose actions didn't benefit Zane's organization, as well as using the killings as bait to attract superhumans whom he could capture, torture and eventually kill. He's doing what he loves, and is finally living his best possible life.

Blake Rogers has no idea that Zane has several clones of him prepared to take his place if he dies in this juvenile crusade. She may have already had to activate the first one.

The Reaper -- PL 10

Abilities:
STR 3 | STA 3 | AGL 4 | DEX 4 | FGT 6 | INT 1 | AWE 2 | PRE 3

Advantages:
Accurate Attack, Assessment, Benefit (Cipher), Close Attack 2, Contacts, Defensive Attack, Defensive Roll, Equipment 10, Evasion 2, Improved Aim, Improved Critical (Sniper Rifle), Improved Grab, Improved Initiative, Power Attack, Precise Attack 4 (Close and Ranged; Cover and Concealment), Ranged Attack 4, Takedown, Throwing Mastery 4, Ultimate Aim, Uncanny Dodge.

Equipment:
Arsenal: Array (16 points)

• Flash-Bang Grenades: Ranged Burst Area Dazzle 4 - 16 points
• Assault Rifle: Ranged Multiattack Damage 5 - 1 point
• Combat Knife: Strength-Based Damage 2, Improved Critical - 1 point
• Fragmentation Grenades: Ranged Burst Area Damage 5 - 1 point
• Heavy Pistol: Ranged Damage 4 - 1 point
• Sleep Gas Grenades: Ranged Cloud Area Sleep 4 - 1 point
• Smoke Grenades: Ranged Cloud Area Concealment Attack 4 - 1 point
• Sniper Rifle and Targeting Scope: Ranged Damage 5, Improved Aim, Improved Critical - 1 point
• Tear Gas Grenades: Ranged Cloud Area Affliction 4 - 1 point

Body Armor: Protection 4 - 4 points
Commlink: Feature 1 (Communication) - 1 point
Mini-Tracers: Feature 1 (Tracking) - 1 point
Rebreather: Immunity 2 (Suffocation), Limited to half effect - 1 point
Motorcycle: Size Medium; Strengh 1; Speed 6 (ground); Defense 10; Toughness 8; Feature Smokescreen - 11 points
8 points of equipment as needed.

Skills:
Acrobatics 8 (+12), Athletics 8 (+11), Close Combat: Blades 4 (+10), Deception 6 (+9), Expertise: Criminal 8 (+9), Expertise: Military 7 (+8), Expertise: Streetwise 8 (+9), Insight 8 (+10), Intimidation 9 (+12), Perception 8 (+10), Ranged Combat: Guns 7 (+11), Sleight of Hand 8 (+12), Stealth 9 (+13), Technology 8 (+9), Vehicles 6 (+10)

Offense:
Initiative +8
Unarmed +8 (Close Damage 3)
Assault Rifle +15 (Ranged Damage 5)
Knife +12 (Close Damage 5, Crit. 19-20)
Pistol +15 (Ranged Damage 4)
Sniper Rifle +15 (Ranged Damage 5, Crit. 18-20)

Defense:
Dodge 9, Parry 10, Fortitude 7, Toughness 9/7/5/3, Will 9

Totals:
Abilities 52 + Advantages 41 + Skills 56 + Defense 20 = 169 points

Complications:
Hatred--Motivation. Dependence (must take regular doses of Revitalix, or suffer Weaken Physical Abilities 3.) Sadism. Subject to Orders.

[Voltron64]

Y'know one of days you really have to explain just what the hell happened in Syria.

Aftereffects of the Python Insurgency considering they wiped off the Baathists in neighboring Iraq?

[Davies]

Y'know one of days you really have to explain just what the hell happened in Syria.

Aftereffects of the Python Insurgency considering they wiped off the Baathists in neighboring Iraq?

Something like that.

[Voltron64]

Y'know one of days you really have to explain just what the hell happened in Syria.

Aftereffects of the Python Insurgency considering they wiped off the Baathists in neighboring Iraq?

Something like that.

Well, between killing Castro, the Kim Dynasty, Saddam, and (personal headcanon) usurping the CIA as backers of the Contras among other geopolitical acts of pandemonium, that's almost a guarantee.

Hell, I imagine the USSR collapsed here because of the Python's activities. When you have mad science, supervillians and spacemen, you can afford to fight a land war in Asia.

[Davies]

Extra special no comment.